Sliding car-door.



No. 799,812. PATENTED SEPT. 19, 1905.

I. K. WALTON.

SLIDING GAR DOOR.

APPLICATION FILED DEG. 29, 1904.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

[NVE/V TOR fiwmzmm Altamey No. 799,812. PATENTED SEPT. 19, 1905-.

I. K. WALTON.

SLIDING GAR DOOR.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 29, 1904.

2 SHBBTS-SHEET 2.

ji zak zz ANDREW. a. (mum CO.PIOYO-LIYIIOGRAFNER!. wnsumuwu u c IRVING K. WALTON, OF WILMINGTON, DELAWARE.

SLIDING CAR-DOOR.

Specification of Letters Patent. 1

Patented Sept. 19, 1905.

Application filed December 29, 1904. Serial No. 238,812.

To all whmn it may concern:

Be it known that I, IRVING K. WALTON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Wilmington, in the county of Newcastle, State of Delaware, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Sliding Oar-Doors, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to a sliding car-door, and particularly to means for inserting said door in position and retaining it when the car is to be closed.

7 The invention has for an object to provide a novel construction and arrangement of operating-levers mounted upon the door and cooperating with the car structure by which both the bottom and top of the door are simultaneously forced inward as the door is closed and withdrawn from such position in the opening of the door, thus securing ease of operation and an accurate fitting of the door into position.

. Other and further objects and advantages of the invention will be hereinafter set forth and the novel features thereof defined by the appended claims.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective showing in full lines the door in closed position and in dotted lines the open position of the door; Fig. 2, a vertical section upon the line 2 2 of Fig. 1; Fig. 3, a horizontal section, upon an enlarged scale, upon the line.3' 3 of Fig. 2; Fig. 4, a detail enlarged view of the upper portion of Fig. 2; Fig. 5, a similar view of the lower portion thereof, and Fig. 6 a deutail perspective of thesystem of operating de vices carried by the car-door. 7

Like letters of reference refer to like parts in the several figures of the drawings.

The letter A designates a car of any suitable construction which is provided with the usual construction of door A, mounted to slide thereon by means of a track or way A from which a hanger A extends downward and is connected by a pivotally-mounted link A with the door at A and with the hanger at A, so as to permit an inward movement of the door into-its closed position. I

The hanger A is provided with a suitable roller A adapted to travel upon the track A 5 The construction of hanger and track D herein shown is a desirable form but any other construction may be used, as found most-desirable. The door is thus carried from its open position (shown by dotted lines in Fig. 1) into alinement with the door-opening, when it isforced inward into the position shown by full lines in Fig. 1 by means of the operating devices mounted upon the door. These devices comprise a main rock-shaft B, carrying upon its lower end a crankarm B, adapted to engage within a flanged keeper B mounted upon the side of the car, the travelof the door being limited at this point by the end wall B of the keeper. The rockshaft B is pivotally mounted upon the door in any desired mannerfor instance, by bearing-brackets, as herein shownand is provided upon its u per end with a laterallyextending arm B*, y which the rock-shafts G for the upper portion of the door are operated. These shafts are each provided at their lower ends with a laterally-extending arm C, which arms are pivotally connected to. the opposite ends of the bar C and this. bar operatively connected to the arm B by means of a link G which permits the bar and arm 0 to lie in close contact with the face of the door whenever the operating-lever B carried by the rock-shaft B, is thrown into contact with said door. This operating-lever is secured to the rock-shaft and may be heldin its opened or closed position by any desired means-for instance, the pin and staple shown at B.

The upper free ends of the rock-shafts C are each provided with a crank-arm. C, which operates simultaneously with the crank-arm B to draw both the bottom and top of the door inward simultaneously by engagement with their cooperating keepers. The crank-arms O are engaged beneath keepers C and C the latter being provided with an end wall C to limit the longitudinal travel of the crank-arm engaging the same, while each of the keepers is provided with a slotted up er surface C to permit the upward trave of the crank-arm in shifting the door inward into its closed position, which dooris opened into the position shown by dotted lines in Fig. 1, it may be retained-in 'I00 travel is due to the pivotal mounting of the that position against any longitudinal play in the movement of the cars by means of any" desired catch deviceforinstance, the head D upon the door adapted to engage thei spring-catch D upon the body of the car."

In the operation of the inventionitwillgbe'" seen that the door will be shifted from the dotted-line position in Fig. 1 until the crankarms engage the end walls of the keepers, which limit its reciprocation, at which time the operating-lever carried by the main rockshaft will be shifted from its position at the left thereof to the position shown in full lines at the right, thus rotating this shaft, and thereby operating the respective crank-arms to simultaneously force inward both the top and bottom of the door. This construction and arrangement prevents the usual necessity of raising the door by hand to swing it into locking position, as the lower crank-arm cooperating with the upper ones exerts this raisin-g tendency through the pressure upon the keepers carried by the car-body. When the door is to be opened, it is only necessary to reverse the position of the operating-lever, which shifts the rock-shaft and crank-arms into the position shown in Figs. 4 and 5, thus through the arms causing the door to swing outward into the same vertical plane as the hanger and allow it to travel free of the side of the car into the open position. (Shown by dotted lines in Fig. 1.)

It will be obvlous that changes may be made in the details of construction and configuration without departing from the spirit of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

Having described my invention and set forth its merits, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a device of the class described, a carbody provided with a door-opening, a door mounted to travel thereon, a hanger for said door having a link connection at its u per portion to efiect a swinging movement 0 the door toward and from the body, keepers upon the car-body above and below said door, a rock-shaft constructed and arranged to operate crank-arms simultaneously engaging the keepers above and below the door, and said kee ers being constructed to permit a vertica travel therein of the crankarms.

2. In a device of the class described, a carbody provided with a door-opening, a door mounted to travel thereon, a hanger for said door having a link connection at its upper portion, a. plurality of keepers upon the car body above the door, a keeper below said door-opening, a plurality of rock-shafts constructed and arranged to operate crank-arms simultaneously engaging the keepers above the doors, a rock-shaft and crank-arm to engage the lower keeper, an end wall to one of the u per keepers to limit the longitudinal trave of the crank-arm therein, and an operating-lever' carried by said rock-shaft.

3. In a device of the class described, a carbody provided with a door-opening, keepers arranged above and below said opening, a doorimounted to reciprocate on said body,

parallel rock-shafts at the upper portion of said door provided with crank-arms to engage the keepers at that point, a main rockshaft intermediate of the parallel rock-shafts and adapted to engage the keeper at the lower portion of the door, and means for connecting said rock-shafts for simultaneous operation.

4. In a device of the class described, a carbody provided with a door-opening, keepers arranged above and below said opening, a door mounted to reciprocate on said body, parallel rock shafts at the upper portion of said door. provided with crank-arms to engage the keepers at that point, a main rockshaft intermediate of the parallel rock-shafts and adapted to engage the kee or at the lower portion of the door, a laterallyextending bar from each of the parallel rock-shafts, a connectin -bar between said arms, and a connection om said bar to the main rockshaft.

5. In a device of the class described, a carbody provided with a door-opening, keepers arranged above and below said opening, a door mounted to reciprocate on said body, parallel rock-shafts at the upp r portion of said door provided with cran arms to engage the keepers at that point, a main rockshaft intermediate of the parallel rock-shafts and adapted to engage the keeper at the lower portion of the door, a laterally-extending bar from each of the parallel rock-shafts, a connecting-bar between said arms, a laterally-extending bar from the main rock-shaft, and a pivoted link connection between said last-mentioned arm and the connecting-bar.

6. In a device of the class described, a car body provided with a door-opening, keepers arranged above and below said opening, a door mounted to reciprocate on said body, parallel rock-shafts at the upper portion of said door provided with crank-arms to engage the keepers at that point, a main rockshaft intermediate of the parallel rock-shafts and adapted to engage the kee er at the lower portion of the door, a laterally-extending bar from each of the parallel rockshafts, a connecting-bar between said arms, a laterally-extending bar from the main rock-shaft, a pivoted link connection between said lastmentioned arm and the connecting-bar, an operating-lever securedto said main rockshaft, and a traveling hanger for said door provided with a link connection to permit an inward and upward movement of the door into closed position.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

IRVING K. WALTON.

Witnesses:

ALoNzo G. B. ANDERSON, FRANCIS S. BRADLEY. 

